


so full of love

by elegantstupidity



Category: Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Mentioned Colin Khoo & Nick Young, Pre-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 18:45:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17085695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elegantstupidity/pseuds/elegantstupidity
Summary: Colin Khoo is used to the way dating the rich and powerful in Singapore works. Until, that is, Araminta Lee comes along.





	so full of love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashling/gifts).



Colin’s pretty sure it’s a sign he needs new friends when the news that he’s going on a date with an honest-to-God supermodel—and, all right, maybe Araminta Lee doesn’t quite qualify as a Cindy Crawford or Gisele Bundchen yet, but Colin has no doubts that she will; a face like hers will be on the runways of Paris and Milan in no time—doesn’t even make waves.

His old prep school friends—most of whom have only earned the title by virtue of having known him before he ever hit puberty—just want to know if she can hook them up with any of her model friends. Bernard Tai goes so far as to tell Colin to send her his way when he’s done with her.

(Needless to say, that won’t be happening any time soon, and not just because Colin might really like this girl. It’s his civic duty to steer the unsuspecting women of Singapore _away_ from Bernard Tai at every possible opportunity.)

Only Nick has anything supportive to say, but even he doesn’t seem all that fazed by the fact that possibly the most beautiful woman in Singapore has agreed to go on a date with him.

“Well, why wouldn’t she?” his oldest, best friend had asked when he’d called with the news, confusion evident in his voice even thirteen hours away.

That’s one of the things that Colin loves best about Nick. The guy’s grown up in the kind of luxury that even Colin can’t fully comprehend, but it hasn’t warped him. He doesn’t let the flash and sparkle of diamonds or the careless, outrageous spending color his impressions of people. As Colin’s father would say, that Nicholas Young has a good head on his shoulders. Maybe its because Nick’s off in New York, and Oxford before that, being some tweed- and suede-covered academic, more concerned with events that happened hundreds of years ago rather than the next big thing like everyone else in Singapore.

It’s not enough to make Colin want to leave for America himself, but it’s something to think about when life on the island feels like it’s pressing in too close.

Anyway, it’s not like Araminta is the first model he’s dated. Much as he likes her and already knows he’d like to take her out again, Colin doubts she’ll be the last.

She is, however, certainly the most interesting.

It’s not a particularly studied though—they’ve only just been shown to their table—but Colin instinctually feels it’s right.

Studying her from across the best table in one of the most exclusive restaurants on the island—it’ll be closed within two years, but everyone, even people who’d never done more than look in the windows, will sigh over the lost culinary experience—Colin can’t quite pin down why, though.

Clearly, it’s a subtle kind of interesting.

It’s not the way she looks, which is pure high-fashion heiress. Even though her golden brown complexion is a shade darker than any auntie would prefer, there’s no arguing that Araminta with her big, brown eyes and long, smooth hair is anything other than classically stunning. She’s beautiful, but in a town where girls (and plenty of guys) get nose jobs and eyelid surgeries for their sweet sixteen, beauty isn’t exactly the rarified commodity people like to pretend it is. And even though Colin doesn’t know much about the finer points of clothes or shoes—his own sister is one of the few women in their set who’d never bothered to play that status game, and he’d never had the patience for it himself—but he does know that Araminta must be wearing a small fortune between her sleek dress and sky-high heels.

So, if it’s not the way she looks, then what is it? Maybe if he can pin it down, he’ll stop staring at her like some kind of deranged stalker.

As it is, Colin doesn’t bother to take his eyes off her.

There’s no doubt that she knows she’s being watched—not just by Colin, but every diner in the place. By the end of the hour, no one who can claim to be in the know won’t have heard that the Lee Hotels heiress snagged a date with the Khoo boy. They’ve both lived in Singapore long enough to know how all this works.

Still, Araminta doesn’t give any indication that she even notices the scrutiny. She keeps her focus on Colin and doesn’t bother to fill the air with pointless chatter. Her shoulders are bare, but she doesn’t lean over the table to offer him an “accidental” view down the front of her dress. She holds herself utterly upright, her neck a long, smooth line leading up to the almost stubborn set of her jaw. There’s a smile on her lips, one that says she knows a good joke and might, just might, let Colin in on it if he’s very, very good.

Usually, Colin thinks good is deeply overrated. For this girl, though, he might have to reassess.

Her enigmatic smile and lightly tinkling laugh aren’t enough to make him lose his head entirely. He hasn’t missed the way that Araminta studies him right back, dropping dark eyelashes over watchful eyes and biding her time.

It’s not lost on him, just as it’s surely not lost on her, that this one dinner date turning into something more only spells good things for her. A little bit of Khoo respectability rubbing off on the tragically nouveau riche Lees could do wonders for her parents’ company, to say nothing of her own career. Colin might not be all that close with his cousin Astrid, but it doesn’t take much imagination to figure that that’s one contact that any model—even one so clearly destined for stardom as Araminta Lee—worth her salt would give her eyeteeth for.

But rather than wait for Colin to start in on the small talk, Araminta tilts her head to the side and lets her gaze go openly calculating.

“So,” she says after a delicate sip of the Alsatian white the sommelier had delivered within moments of them sitting down and without much input from Colin, “what’s the play, here?”

“Play?” Colin isn’t often the smartest person in the room, but he’s very rarely at such a complete loss.

Araminta laughs, bright and attention-grabbing. Plenty of heads turn their way, and Colin can practically see the way they’re all straining their ears to hear what joke has just made the beautiful Lee girl so amused. The way her eyes stay locked on him, not even once darting to the side to gauge the reaction of any onlookers, makes him think that’s just the way she laughs.

“Come on,” she coaxes, looking at him far more kindly than she has all evening. The condescension isn’t something Colin loves, but he could get used to the way it’s made her eyes go soft, almost fond. “It’s not like this is a real date, is it?"

“Not a real date?” he repeats. Apparently, he’s become incapable of independent thought.

She doesn’t roll her eyes, but it must be the etiquette lessons he’s sure she’s been drilled in since she was a child holding her back; he’d had to go through the same ordeal, though he can’t say they stuck so well for him. Araminta’s hand gestures gracefully, like she’s illustrating a point, but it just draws Colin’s attention to the dark, stuffy decor and their conspicuously ostentatious fellow diners. The women all drip with bright jewels and what are probably the latest fashions. Every man in the place has adjusted his jacket sleeve at least twice to show off cufflinks and watches.

“Is this really your idea of showing a girl a good time?” she challenges. Rather than give him a chance to reply, she answers for him, “No. So, I figure there’s got to be some other explanation. Is your father looking to expand into hospitality? My mother’s not looking for investors at the moment, but I’m sure—“

“This doesn’t have anything to do with our parents,” Colin practically sputters.

“Oh.” Her shoulders don’t slump, but bemusement flashes across her face, her red lips pursing. “Then…”

“Then I guess I really don’t know how to show a girl a good time,” he laughs, aiming for self-deprecating and mostly hitting the mark. There’ll be time to beat himself up for this colossal misstep later. He gets the most beautiful woman out to dinner at the hottest restaurant in Singapore, and he still manages to mess it up. Typical.

Instead of looking disappointed, Araminta grins. There’s nothing artificial about this smile. It lances straight into Colin’s gut, and just like that, he loses his head.

“You haven’t completely blown your chance,” she tells him, conspiratorial. Now she does lean in, but it’s to take him into her confidence, not give him an unearned flash of skin. “As interesting as molecular gastronomy is”—their waiter arrives just then, depositing a dish full of what’s supposed to be roe in a woven nest of julienned nori and topped with scallop-hazelnut foam—“I’ve always preferred satay and ketupat.”

Colin finds himself grinning back, already reaching into his pocket for his wallet.

“Then you’re in luck, Miss Lee,” he says. “Because I happen to know where they have the best ketupat on the island.”

Araminta, of course, cannot let him have even that win.

“It was good!” she allows, swinging around to face him, her hand still tucked into his. They’ve arrived outside her flat, and Colin’s doing his best to resist the urge to ask for a nightcap or maybe more. Somehow, he's pretty sure that rushing headlong into this would be a mistake. He wants to take his time here, draw out his moments with Araminta for as long as she'll let him. Every bit of herself that she’s revealed tonight just made him hungry for more. He'd almost forgotten to eat, too wrapped up in getting Araminta to smile, getting Araminta to laugh, getting Araminta to argue over the superiority of chilli crab over sambal lala. “It was delicious—and that bak chang!—but it’s not the best in Singapore.”

Colin just shakes his head in disbelief. “If there’s better, then I want to taste it.”

“You will. I’ll take you the next time we go out.”

It takes more effort than he’d like to admit to not to swallow his tongue. “The next time, huh?” Colin finally manages, sounding almost suave.

Araminta must see right through him because she giggles and leans forward, the clean, floral scent of her perfume making his thoughts go even hazier.

“Yes,” she promises. “The next time. You know, you’re not so bad at showing a girl a good time. Once you’ve loosened up a little.”

A disbelieving and vaguely unflattering snort of laughter escapes him, but that doesn’t stop Araminta from leaning up to press a soft kiss against his mouth. It also doesn’t stop Colin from sliding his free hand around her waist or tangling his fingers into hers. She rewards him with a quiet hum and more pressure, her tongue darting out to wet his lips, just once.

That’s all he really needs to know he’s already in the process of falling.

When she pulls away, Colin goes to follow, but she’s too deft. Her lips land against his cheek and she murmurs, “See? Loosen up.”

Then, she’s gone, pulling her hand from his and disappearing into her building with one last, blinding smile over her shoulder.

Colin stands for a long time on the sidewalk, blinking a bit stupidly into the night. When his senses finally return to him, he lets out a bark of laughter. He doesn’t lift his hand to his mouth like some lovestruck teenage girl, but it’s a close thing. Instead, he just shakes his head and turns to head back to his car. It’s parked a few streets over, but it was worth the walk just for getting to take Araminta’s hand in his.

As he goes, he can’t quite help the jaunt in his step or the path his mind wanders down.

Maybe his friends are right. Getting a supermodel to go on a date is something any chump—given a good enough draw in the genetic lottery, of course—can do.

But convincing one to marry him?

Now, that would really be something.


End file.
